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Friday, February 25, 2005

Do you know what an Easter Egg is? I don't mean dyed hard-boiled eggs, or Cadbury eggs, or things like that. I mean little hidden goodies on dvds (and cds and video games sometimes). They're amazingly fun! The Housekarl first alerted me to their existence when the third Lord of the Rings extended edition came out. But then the site mom of the place where I post my fanfic told me there were some on the first two LotR extendeds too, and that there are Easter Eggs on other dvds too. Some of them are lame, but some are brilliant! The Kieth Richards interview on Pirates of the Caribbean is particularly adorable...

Anyway, here are a few sites that tell you how to access Easter Eggs on various dvds. Happy hunting!

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

My writing process is a coffeemaker. The little bits of ideas for a story are the coffee grounds, and I dump them into my brain, where my hot-water imagination flows into the ideas, initially just mixing with them and percolating, getting the ideas to mix together and get warm and tasty. Then slowly the story itself starts to drip out, leaving the idea-grounds behind and forming a pot of steaming story. When other people drink in my story, they can add their own cream and sugar if they want to, bringing their own perspectives and preconceived ideas with them, or they can just imbibe it fresh and black--undiluted and potent.

Monday, February 14, 2005

An unnamed person told one of my friends (who will also remain unnamed) recently that they didn't think people should get married until they wanted to have kids, because that is the whole point of marriage. I strongly disagree! If you take that approach, you are basically agreeing with all the non-Christians who view marriage as simply a way to legitimize their offspring.

Also, the reason God gave for instituting marriage was not "to have kids". Rather, God created the first marriage because "It is not good that man should be alone" (Genesis 2:18a). He didn't create marriage because he wanted grandbabies, he created marriage because he didn't want people to be lonely! Of course, he did tell people to "be fruitful and multiply" (Genesis 9:7a), but he didn't list that as the main reason for marriage. It's more like a happy by-product. Besides, what about Paul's declaration that "it is better to marry than to burn with passion" (I Corinthians 7:9b)? It seems to me that God created marriage as a way to allow people to be happy and contented with their lives, instead of having to be lonely and frustrated. Children are a possible result of this state, not the point of it.

Friday, February 11, 2005

I watched two amazing movies this 'weekend', and I've got to blather on about them for a bit...

First, Equilibrium. Whooo! That one blew my socks off! (At least, it would have if I'd been wearing socks when I watched it; I was barefoot, however, as usual) It's like taking the basic premise of Fahrenheit 451 and tossing it into a Matrix-style setting. And with Christian Bale and Sean Bean, how can you miss? Not nearly enough Sean Bean for my taste, but at least for once he wasn't completely eeeeeeeeevil. And okay, the religious references were a bit overt (what with a character called 'the Father', people called 'clerics', and that reference to the 'opiate of the masses'...). But still, it was a totally energizing romp. Thank you, Rescue Ranger (aka The Banana Stalker) for recommending it to me!

Second, Ordinary People. Oh my word! Timothy Hutton is gut-wrenchingly amazing! The dude was like 19 or 20, and he was acting more intensely than most 'grown up' actors ever ever ever do! No wonder he got the Oscar that year--I'm surprised they even nominated anyone else. To some of you young squirts reading this who have never even heard of this movie, let me say that I think Matt Damon and Ben Affleck watched Ordinary People a lot before writing Good Will Hunting. Robin William's character in the latter is especially reminiscent of Judd Hirsch's in the former, right down to those saggy blue-grey sweaters.

Thursday, February 10, 2005

My Cowboy has started his own blog! And I didn't even suggest it to him; he decided to do this all on his own! So you've totally gotta check it out. He calls it "Octavo Dia" after one of his favorite Shakira songs.

He says I should inform you that it's boring and political. You can make up your own minds about that...

Tuesday, February 08, 2005

Here is the absolute funniest opening sentence I have read in a really long time. Especially since it comes from a non-humor-oriented place...it's a letter to one of those multitudinous advice columns the Wisconsin State Journal runs (from Monday, Feb 7, 2005 to be precise). I don't mean to mock the poor woman who wrote it, because she obviously has a legitimate problem. But the way she sets up her tale of woe just makes me giggle. In fact, I laughed out loud in the break room at work when I first read it:

"Dear Annie: I am a 35-year-old woman with four children, an advanced degree and no serious health problems, but I have compulsively and secretly been eating crayons for months."

Isn't that hilarious? I mean, honestly...the way she starts out by reciting her normalcy...I figured it would be another of those "I'm attracted to the high school kid who mows my lawn" or "I think I'm fat but my husband keeps forcefeeding me cookie dough" problems. No, no, the woman is eating crayons. Eating them "compulsively and secretly". The wording could not be more perfect! It's exactly how they tell you to write unexpectedish humor! I love it!

Saturday, February 05, 2005

Hooray! My latest piece of fanfic has finally been posted on the Purple Hearts site! It's called "Searching", and it's a crossover between Combat! and Angel. Unlike my previous crossover, "Bulletproof", this one takes place in the world of Angel. So if you want to, surf on over and check that out ;-)

Also, I've started a new blog, which I call Hamlette's Other Soliloquy. It's just a dumping ground for poetry and stuff that I want to have handy for referencing. Stuff I'm sick of googling for over and over, but don't feel like keeping on my harddrive, basically. Plus, gave me an excuse to get a livejournal account too so I can interact with a bunch of my friends' blogs better...

My latest book

Or

About Me

I'm 37, I'm married to Cowboy, and I'm a writer and the stay-at-home, homeschooling mother of our three lively little ones. And, if you can't tell, I'm a bit fond of a certain Shakespearean play. I'm passionate about books and movies, and I have a multitude of hobbies. But if anybody asks you who I am, tell them I'm a child of God.